OmegaMatters

In this “Ask Us Anything,” we break down the omega-3 & atrial fibrillation (AFib) story (who’s at risk—and who isn’t), explain why the Omega-3 Index target is 8–12%, and cover practical decisions like how to read fish-oil labels (EPA + DHA), choosing sources (fish oil, algal oil, krill, salmon roe, ahiflower), and storing products to limit oxidation.Omega Matters 2026 is back with Dr. Bill Harris (OmegaQuant) and new co-host Kelly Patterson, RD—answering your most-asked questions about omega-3s, the Omega-3 Index, and what the clinical data actually show.Topics covered:AFib risk: why the signal shows up mainly with high-dose omega-3 in high cardiovascular-risk patients, not typical supplement/food intakesPlaque progression: what the evidence says about slowing coronary plaque growthBrain health: omega-3 status and dementia risk (including early-onset dementia and APOE4)EPA vs DHA (and why “both” usually wins) + common ratio mythsBleeding concerns, SPMs, immunity markers (NLR), dry eye, omega-6 (linoleic acid), and omega-3 for petsCheck your Omega-3 Index: OmegaQuant Omega-3 Index test10% off: use code OmegaMatters10

Recording date: November 24, 2025Broadcast date: December 12, 2025Hosts: Drs. Bill Harris & Kristina Harris JacksonGuest: Dr. Daniel Amen About this episode: In this episode, Drs. Harris and Jackson talk to Dr. Daniel Amen. The Washington Post called Dr. Daniel Amen the most popular psychiatrist in America. He is a former infantry medic and board-certified child and adult psychiatrist, who trained at the Walter Reed Army Medical Center in Washington, DC. He is also the founder and CEO of Amen Clinics, with 11 locations nationwide and home to the world’s largest brain imaging database for psychiatry with nearly 300,000 SPECT scans on patients from 155 countries. For more information on OmegaMatters, visit https://omegaquant.com/omegamatters-broadcasts/To watch this episode, visit our YouTube channel.To read the full transcript from this OmegaMatters episode, visit https://omegaquant.com/omegamatters-broadcasts/.To learn more about omega-3 testing, visit: https://omegaquant.com/omega-3-index-complete/ 

The Role of Diet: Children & Adults with Learning Disabilities Recording date: June 25, 2025Broadcast date: Nvoember 19, 2025 Hosts: Drs. Bill Harris & Kristina Harris JacksonGuest: Dr. Rachel Gow About this episode: In this episode, Drs. Harris and Jackson talk to Dr. Rachel Gow, a child neuropsychologist specializing in ADHD and associated neurodivergent conditions in the overall field of nutritional neuroscience. She holds a PhD in child neuropsychology from King's College in London and is a registered nutritionist. She's a lecturer at several universities in the UK, and trained here at the NIH stateside with Dr. Joe Hibbeln. She writes books and has created a nonprofit to help talk about this topic. For more information on OmegaMatters, visit https://omegaquant.com/omegamatters-broadcasts/To watch this episode, visit our YouTube channel.To read the full transcript from this OmegaMatters episode, visit https://omegaquant.com/omegamatters-broadcasts/.To learn more about omega-3 testing, visit: https://omegaquant.com/omega-3-index-complete/

Surprising Research on Omega-3/Omega-6 and Inflammation OmegaMatters: Episode 49Hosts: Drs. Bill Harris and Kristina Harris JacksonGuest: Dr. Philip CalderAbout this episode: In this episode, Drs. Harris and Jackson talk to Dr. Philip Calder, who is a Professor of Nutritional Immunology in the Faculty of Medicine at the University of Southampton in the U.K. He's an internationally recognized researcher on fatty acids with an emphasis on the roles of omega-3 fatty acids and the influence of diet and nutrients on the immune and inflammatory responses. He's received many awards and honors, including the AOCS Ralph T. Homan Achievement Award in 2015, the prestigious Danone International Prize for Nutrition in 2016, and the DSM Lifetime Achievement Prize in human nutrition in 2017. He's also helped steer many of the nutrition organizations over the last 20 years, including ISSFAL, ESPEN, the Nutrition Society, and currently the Federation of European Nutrition Societies. For more information on OmegaMatters, visit https://omegaquant.com/omegamatters-broadcasts/ To watch this episode, visit our YouTube channel.To read the full transcript from this OmegaMatters episode, visit https://omegaquant.com/omegamatters-broadcasts/.To learn more about omega-3 testing, visit: https://omegaquant.com/omega-3-index-complete/

Conflicting Omega-3 Index World Maps (What's Correct?)OmegaMatters: Episode 48Hosts: Drs. Bill Harris and Kristina Harris JacksonAbout this episode: In this episode, Drs. Harris and Jackson talk about a new world map Omega-3 paper, which prompted the question: “Why do different laboratories provide different values for blood Omega-3 fatty acids, which resulted in two very different world maps of Omega-3 status?” So they dug into the paper to see if they could understand better why they have two very different views on Omega-3 status in the world. For more information on OmegaMatters, visit https://omegaquant.com/omegamatters-broadcasts/. To watch this episode, visit our YouTube channel.To read the full transcript from this OmegaMatters episode, visit https://omegaquant.com/omegamatters-broadcasts/.To learn more about omega-3 testing, visit: https://omegaquant.com/omega-3-index-complete/

The Surprising Heart Disease Predictor You Might be MissingOmegaMatters: Episode 47Hosts: Drs. Bill Harris and Kristina Harris JacksonGuest: Dr. Heidi Lai, Associate Scientist, Fatty Acid Research Institute (FARI)About this episode: In this episode, Drs. Harris and Jackson welcome Dr. Heidi Lai. Heidi has recently joined the Fatty Acid Research Institute (FARI) as an associate scientist where she studies how blood levels of fatty acids relate to long term health outcomes. She holds a PhD in food science and nutrition from the University of Leeds in the UK. Received her postdoctoral training in nutritional epidemiology at Tufts University in the US and has worked as a research advisor in Imperial College London in the UK. Heidi has also been an active member of the International Fatty Acids and Outcomes Research Consortium (FORCE) group since 2018, which FARI works with quite a bit. For more information on OmegaMatters, visit https://omegaquant.com/omegamatters-broadcasts/ To watch this episode, visit our YouTube channel.To read the full transcript from this OmegaMatters episode, visit https://omegaquant.com/omegamatters-broadcasts/.To learn more about omega-3 testing, visit: https://omegaquant.com/omega-3-index-complete/

Omega-3s in the Clinic: Sardines for 100 DaysOmegaMatters: Episode 46Hosts: Drs. Bill Harris & Kristina Harris JacksonGuest: Dr. Annette Bosworth (Dr. Boz).About this episode: In this "Be Our Guest" episode, Drs. Harris and Jackson talk to Dr. Boz, the professional alias of Dr. Annette Bosworth, an internal medicine physician, assistant professor, author, and keto-focused health educator who’s built a platform—BozMD—to help reverse chronic conditions like obesity, diabetes, depression, addiction, and autoimmune disorders using ketogenic nutrition and “keto chemistry.” She combines her medical expertise with storytelling—from university teaching roles to public features (CNN, Time, Fox News)—sharing practices like the “Dr. Boz Ratio” for measuring metabolic health at home via blood glucose and ketone levels. In this episode, they talk about eating sardines for 100 days and why Dr. Boz uses the Omega-3 Index test with her patients. For more information on OmegaMatters, visit: https://omegaquant.com/omegamatters-broadcasts/To watch this episode, visit our YouTube channel.To read the full transcript from this OmegaMatters episode, visit https://omegaquant.com/omegamatters-broadcasts/.To learn more about omega-3 testing, visit: https://omegaquant.com/omega-3-index-complete/

Title: Omega-3 in the Clinic: Being Your Own Health AdvocateRecording date: March 18, 2025Broadcast date: June 18 2025Hosts: Drs. Bill Harris and Kristina Harris JacksonAbout this episode: In this episode, Drs. Harris and Jackson talk to Tess Cheng. We are back with another Be Our Guest edition of Omega Matters. We have Tess Cheng here and she is a certified health and wellness coach of over 13 years, has been trained with a master's in clinical nutrition from NYU and has lots of direct real-world experience using our omega-3 index test kits.. For more information on OmegaMatters, visit: https://omegaquant.com/omegamatters-broadcasts/To watch this episode, visit our YouTube channel.To read the full transcript from this OmegaMatters episode, visit https://omegaquant.com/omegamatters-broadcasts/.To learn more about omega-3 testing, visit: https://omegaquant.com/omega-3-index-complete/

Title: The Surprising Heart Disease Predictor You Might Be OverlookingRecording date: April 15, 2025Broadcast date: May 15, 2025Hosts: Drs. Bill Harris and Kristina Harris JacksonGuest: Dr. Grant Franco, Saint Luke’s Mid America Heart Institute and University of Missouri-Kansas City, Kansas City, MOAbout this episode: In this episode, Drs. Harris and Jackson welcome Dr. Grant Franco, the lead researcher in a recent paper showing that the Omega-3 Index is just as powerful a risk predictor for CVD as smoking and cholesterol. For more information on OmegaMatters, visit: https://omegaquant.com/omegamatters-broadcasts/To watch this episode, visit our YouTube channel.To read the full transcript from this OmegaMatters episode, visit https://omegaquant.com/omegamatters-broadcasts/.To learn more about omega-3 testing, visit: https://omegaquant.com/omega-3-index-complete/

Title: Omega-3s and Pharmacy with Easton BryantRecording date: March 18, 2025Broadcast date: April 2, 2025Hosts: Drs. Bill Harris and Kristina Harris Jackson About this episode: In this episode, Drs. Harris and Jackson welcome Dr. Easton Bryant, a pharmacist and a practitioner, who uses omega-3s and omega-3 testing in the real world. For more information on OmegaMatters, visit: https://omegaquant.com/omegamatters-broadcasts/To watch this episode, visit our YouTube channel.To read the full transcript from this OmegaMatters episode, visit https://omegaquant.com/omegamatters-broadcasts/.To learn more about omega-3 testing, visit: https://omegaquant.com/omega-3-index-complete/

Title: The Effects of Choline and DHA in Pregnancy Recording date: February 21, 2025Broadcast date: March 19, 2025Hosts: Drs. Bill Harris and Kristina Harris Jackson About this episode: In this episode Drs. Harris & Jackson talk to Dr. Kevin Klatt, an assistant research scientist and instructor in the Department of Nutrition Sciences and Toxicology at UC Berkeley. He received his PhD in molecular nutrition from Cornell University and completed his dietetic internship at the NIH Clinical Center. Kevin has experience from the lab bench to human clinical trials to clinical practice. For more information on OmegaMatters, visit: https://omegaquant.com/omegamatters-broadcasts/To watch this episode, visit our YouTube channel.To read the full transcript from this OmegaMatters episode, visit https://omegaquant.com/omegamatters-broadcasts/.To learn more about omega-3 testing, visit: https://omegaquant.com/omega-3-index-complete/

EPISODE 41Title: Best 2024 Fatty Acid Studies  Recording date: December 13, 2024Broadcast date: January 8, 2025Hosts: Drs. Bill Harris and Kristina Harris Jackson About this episode: In this episode Drs. Harris & Jackson review the research highlights for fatty acids in 2024, and discuss what's coming next. For more information on OmegaMatters, visit: https://omegaquant.com/omegamatters-broadcasts/ Studies discussed during this episode:·      Beneficial effects of linoleic acid (an Omega-6) on cardiometabolic health: https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/39267068/·      Omega-6 Fatty Acid Levels and Cause-Specific Mortality: https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/39181205/·      New Omega-3 Index World Map (reflective of global population omega-3 status): https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0163782724000195·      Circulating DHA and Risk for All-Cause and Cause-Specific Mortality: https://www.mayoclinicproceedings.org/article/S0025-6196(23)00603-1/fulltext·      Omega-3 & Heart Failure Risk and Death: https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S0025619624004075·      Omega-3 and Hearing Difficulty: https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S0952327824000486·      Omega-3 Levels and Prevalence of Frailty in Older Adults: https://academic.oup.com/biomedgerontology/article-abstract/79/5/glae085/7633749?redirectedFrom=fulltext&login=false·      Omega-3 Blood Levels and Stroke Risk: https://www.ahajournals.org/doi/10.1161/STROKEAHA.123.044281To watch this episode, visit our YouTube channel.To read the full transcript from this OmegaMatters episode, visit https://omegaquant.com/omegamatters-broadcasts/.To learn more about omega-3 testing, visit: https://omegaquant.com/omega-3-index-complete/

Title: Farmed Fish Healthier? Recording date: November 5, 2024Broadcast date: December 14, 2024Hosts: Drs. Bill Harris and Kristina Harris JacksonGuest: Dr. Matthew SpragueAbout this episode: In this episode Drs. Harris & Jackson are joined by Dr. Matthew Sprague who is a lecturer in nutrition at the Institute of Aquaculture at the University of Stirling in Scotland. OmegaQuant has a special connection with the University of Stirling and their aquaculture unit because they help run our Omega-3 Index testing at their lab over in the UK. So we have a lot of connections and this is just a great group to work with and they have the extra bonus of being experts in fish and aquaculture, which is the focus of this episode’s conversation. For more information on OmegaMatters, visit: https://omegaquant.com/omegamatters-broadcasts/ To watch this episode, visit our YouTube channel.To read the full transcript from this OmegaMatters episode, visit https://omegaquant.com/omegamatters-broadcasts/.To learn more about omega-3 testing, visit: https://omegaquant.com/omega-3-index-complete/

Title: Omega-3 & Brain and Spinal Cord InjuriesRecording date: September 27, 2024Broadcast date: November 14, 2024Hosts: Drs. Bill Harris and Kristina Harris JacksonGuest: Dr. Adina Michael-Titus About this episode: In this episode Drs. Harris & Jackson are joined by Dr. Adina Michael-Titus, who is a professor of neuroscience at the Center for Trauma Sciences in Barts, the London School of Medicine and Dentistry. She is trained as both a neuroscientist and a pharmacologist and is interested in developing new therapies for traumatic spinal cord and brain injuries. And in this area of research, she's been working extensively with omega-3s. For more information on OmegaMatters, visit: https://omegaquant.com/omegamatters-broadcasts/To watch this episode, visit our YouTube channel.To read the full transcript from this OmegaMatters episode, visit https://omegaquant.com/omegamatters-broadcasts/.To learn more about omega-3 testing, visit: https://omegaquant.com/omega-3-index-complete/

Title: Omega-3 Dose, Bleeding & Eye Health: Ask Us Anything | Part 2Recording date: September 4, 2024Broadcast date: October 16th, 2024Hosts: Drs. Bill Harris and Kristina Harris JacksonAbout this episode:In this episode Drs. Harris & Jackson address several audience questions, including how to calculate omega-3 dose, omega-3's role in bleeding, and how omega-3s support eye health. For more information on OmegaMatters, visit: https://omegaquant.com/omegamatters-b...To watch this episode, visit our YouTube channel.To read the full transcript from this OmegaMatters episode, visit https://omegaquant.com/omegamatters-broadcasts/.To learn more about omega-3 testing, visit: https://omegaquant.com/omega-3-index-complete/

Title: C15, A-Fib and more: Ask Us Anything | Part 1 Recording date: September 4, 2024Broadcast date: September 25, 2024Hosts: Drs. Bill Harris and Kristina Harris JacksonAbout this episode: In this episode Drs. Harris & Jackson address several audience questions, from C15 to A-Fib and everything in between. For more information on OmegaMatters, visit: https://omegaquant.com/omegamatters-b...To watch this episode, visit our YouTube channel.To read the full transcript from this OmegaMatters episode, visit https://omegaquant.com/omegamatters-broadcasts/.To learn more about omega-3 testing, visit: https://omegaquant.com/omega-3-index-complete/

EPISODE #37Title: Omega-3 & Bleeding RiskRecording date: July 30, 2024Broadcast date: August 15, 2024Hosts: Drs. Bill Harris and Kristina Harris JacksonGuest: Dr. Mohammad Alkhalil About this episode: In this episode Drs. Harris & Jackson are joined by Dr. Mohammad Alkhalil from Newcastle upon Tyne. He's an interventional cardiologist, who trained originally in Damascus and then in Belfast, Northern Ireland. He did his cardiology training in Toronto and then went on to get a PhD at Oxford. So we have a very well-educated, unusually well-educated cardiologist joining us today. Our topic is going to be omega-3 and bleeding, and we're going to start by asking Dr. Alkhalil to tell us what got him interested in the whole omega-3 story, as well as digging deeply into why bleeding was also of interest. He will talk in-depth about his latest paper published in the Journal of the American Heart Association on omega-3 and bleeding risk. For more information on OmegaMatters, visit: https://omegaquant.com/omegamatters-broadcasts/To watch this episode, visit our YouTube channel.To read the full transcript from this OmegaMatters episode, visit https://omegaquant.com/omegamatters-broadcasts/.To learn more about omega-3 testing, visit: https://omegaquant.com/omega-3-index-complete/

EPISODE #36 Title: Omega-3 & Niacin for Heart Health (Why So Many HDL Drugs Failed)Recording date: May 9, 2024Broadcast date: July 24, 2024Hosts: Drs. Bill Harris and Kristina Harris JacksonGuest: Dr. Greg ShearerAbout this episode: In this episode we welcome Dr. Greg Shearer, who is a professor of nutritional sciences at the Pennsylvania State University. His research focuses on how the downstream products of Omega-3 and Omega-6 fatty acids, sometimes called lipid mediators, affect disease-related outcomes. The paper discussed in this episode relates specifically to Omega-3s, Niacin and HDL Function. For more information on OmegaMatters, visit: https://omegaquant.com/omegamatters-broadcasts/To watch this episode, visit our YouTube channel.To read the full transcript from this OmegaMatters episode, visit https://omegaquant.com/omegamatters-broadcasts/.To learn more about omega-3 testing, visit: https://omegaquant.com/omega-3-index-complete/

EPISODE #35 - Going Behind the Headlines… Is Fish Oil Bad for Healthy Hearts?Recording date: May 31, 2024Broadcast date: June 1, 2024Hosts: Drs. Bill Harris and Kristina Harris JacksonBackground and key takeaways: For this special edition of OmegaMatters, Drs. Bill Harris and Kristina Harris Jackson review a recent BMJ paper that concluded fish oil was bad for healthy hearts. There are several points of contention in this paper that Dr. Bill Harris reviews in detail.·      Why a new BMJ paper is generating sensational headlines around fish oil and heart health·      How this new research has come to the — misleading — conclusion that fish is bad for healthy hearts but ok for this with existing heart issues·      Why “reporting” fish oil intake is not as important giving people fish oil and measuring its effects·      How the latest BMJ paper compares to a study published in BMJ in 2020 that examined fish oil use and heart health — in a nearly identical study population and came to a very different conclusion·      How the mainstream press took the only negative from the recent BMJ paper (fish slightly increases Afib risk in healthy people) and disregard the several positive findings·      How most mortality stats are positive for omega-3 use and should hold more weight than individual CVD outcomes ·      Whether the data were extracted properly — there are extreme discrepancies in the data from the Chen et al. study vs. the Li et al. study·      Why the bigger picture of omega-3 supplement use on health writ large in the UK Biobank is strongly in favor of the use of omega-3·      Why examining circulating levels of omega-3 is a better determinant of health outcomes vs. just reporting omega-3 intake·      In the UK Biobank, higher omega-3 levels are associated with lower risk for several major mortality outcomes. None of this was ever mentioned by Chen.Important papers discussed:·      Regular use of fish oil supplements and course of cardiovascular diseases: prospective cohort study·      Associations of habitual fish oil supplementation with cardiovascular outcomes and all cause mortality: evidence from a large population based cohort studyOmega-3 Blood Levels and Stroke Risk: A Pooled and Harmonized Analysis of 183 291 Participants From 29 Prospective Studies To watch this episode, visit our YouTube channel.To read the full transcript from this OmegaMatters episode, visit https://omegaquant.com/omegamatters-broadcasts/.To learn more about omega-3 testing, visit: https://omegaquant.com/omega-3-index-complete/

EPISODE #34 - Considerations for Buying an Omega-3 TestRecording date: April 8, 2024 Broadcast date: May 16, 2024Hosts: Drs. Harris and JacksonGuest: Dr. Kevin Maki Background and key takeaways: Dr. Kevin Maki is the founder and chief scientist of Midwest Biomedical Research where they specialize in designing and conducting clinical trials related to cardiometabolic health, clinical nutrition, and cognitive function. And he's also an adjunct professor and dean's eminent scholar at Indiana University in the School of Public Health in Bloomington, and the co-editor-in-chief of the Journal of Clinical Lipidology. ·      What’s the difference between all of the omega-3 tests out there; a new research paper published in the Journal of Nutrition wanted to answer that very question — Journal of Nutrition: Omega-3 Polyunsaturated Fatty Acid Status in Humans: A Narrative Review of Commercially Available Options·      Why clinical trials need to assess omega-3 status to reach better conclusions about the effectiveness of omega-3 fatty acids (EPA and DHA) for certain health benefits·      Why in the near future clinicians will be routinely assessing omega-3 status; and why for people with low status, doctors can recommend an intervention to raise the status·      Why choosing the Omega-3 Index to test omega-3 status makes the most sense, but if the ultimate goal is to get people testing their omega-3 status in the first place, then testing is better than not testing at all·      What are some important considerations for buying an omega-3 test? The availability, the convenience, the cost, insurance coverage, the simplicity of the results…·      Why the arachidonic acid to EPA ratio is a useful test ·      Why it is virtually impossible to compile and compare studies if researchers are not using the same metrics to do baseline and ending omega-3 status·      Why you cannot tell what your omega-3 level is just by the omega-3 products you are taking (i.e. omega-3 supplements and/or fish) — i.e., why you can’t guess what you should test·      Why we need more clinical trials that recruit people with low status and then have an intervention to increase the status up to optimal levels·      What is the difference between measuring omega-3s in plasma vs. red blood cells·      Which tests are covered by insurance·      Why getting the Omega-3 Index into more mainstream channels will help the people who need it most — i.e., the ones with the lowest omega-3 levelsTo watch this episode, visit our YouTube channel.To read the full transcript from this OmegaMatters episode, visit https://omegaquant.com/omegamatters-broadcasts/.To learn more about omega-3 testing, visit: https://omegaquant.com/omega-3-index-complete/

EPISODE #33 - How Diet & Supplementation Impacts the Omega-3 IndexRecording date: April 1, 2024Broadcast date: April 10, 2024Hosts: Drs. Harris and Jackson Guest: Dr. Laurel WentzAbout this episode: Dr. Laurel Wentz talks about her deep dive into the Omega-3 Index and supplementation and diet and everything that affects the Omega-3 Index. She recently published a large paper that discusses what it takes to increase the Omega-3 Index with Food and Supplements. Dr. Wentz is an associate professor of nutrition at Appalachian State University. She's also a registered dietitian and a board certified specialist in sports dietetics, so she's got a lot of practical knowledge on this and many other topics related to nutrition and health. She focuses on the impact of nutrition, on metabolism, inflammation and immune function during exercise. To watch this episode, visit our YouTube channel.To read the full transcript from this OmegaMatters episode, visit https://omegaquant.com/omegamatters-broadcasts/.To learn more about omega-3 testing, visit: https://omegaquant.com/omega-3-index-complete/

EPISODE #32 - The Omega-3 Index and Heart RemodelingRecording date: February 12, 2024 Broadcast date: March 4, 2024Hosts: Drs. Harris and JacksonGuest: Dr. Raymond KwongBackground and key takeaways: Dr. Raymond Kwong, Director of the Cardiac Magnetic Resonance Imaging or MRI Center at the Brigham and Women's Hospital. And he's an associate professor of medicine at Harvard Medical School. Dr. Kwong is most interested in studying the heart and how it remodels itself or heals itself after a heart attack. In this episode, Drs. Harris and Jackson speak with Dr. Kwong about how omega-3s play into the heart remodeling process when someone experiences a heart attack or other heart-related event. To watch this episode, visit our YouTube channel.To read the full transcript from this OmegaMatters episode, visit https://omegaquant.com/omegamatters-broadcasts/.To learn more about omega-3 testing, visit: https://omegaquant.com/omega-3-index-complete/

EPISODE #31- The Omega-3 Index and Stroke RiskRecording date: January 19, 2024Broadcast date: February 1, 2024 Hosts: Drs. Bill Harris & Kristina Harris JacksonGuest: Dr. James O’Keefe Background and key takeaways: Dr. James O’Keefe is a preventative cardiologist at St. Luke's Hospital in Kansas City. He's also the director of the Duboc Cardio Health and Wellness Center and director of Preventative Cardiology at St. Luke's in Kansas City and the Mid America Heart Institute. Dr. O’Keefe has also joined the Fatty Acid Research Institute (FARI) to dig deeper into some of the questions he encounters in the clinic. In addition to that, he's an excellent communicator, a regular on Dr. Radio, has been on The Drive, which is  Peter Attia's podcast and has given several TED talks and written numerous books. So today we're going to talk about some of the research In this episode, Drs. Harris and Jackson speak with Dr. O'Keeffe about research he did with FARI around Omega-3s/Omega-3 Index and stroke. To watch this episode, visit our YouTube channel.To read the full transcript from this OmegaMatters episode, visit https://omegaquant.com/omegamatters-broadcasts/.To learn more about omega-3 testing, visit: https://omegaquant.com/omega-3-index-complete/

EPISODE #30 - Omega-3s and Dementia RiskRecording date: December 19, 2023 Broadcast date: January 5, 2024 Hosts: Dr. Bill HarrisGuest: Dr. Aleix Sala-VidaBackground and key takeaways: Dr. Aleix Sala-Vila got his PhD in 2004 in biomedicine from the University of Barcelona and did four postdoctoral fellowships, which increased his breadth and depth of understanding in the nutrition field. He has experience from cell culture work all the way up to epidemiology and is particularly interested in how nutrients affect chronic disease. In this episode, Drs. Harris and Sala-Vila talk about omega-3s and how these nutrients affect the chronic disease of dementia. Aleix has got 151 publications, 76 of which have to do with fatty acid. So he's a bonafide expert in this field. To watch this episode, visit our YouTube channel.To read the full transcript from this OmegaMatters episode, visit https://omegaquant.com/omegamatters-broadcasts/.To learn more about omega-3 testing, visit: https://omegaquant.com/omega-3-index-complete/

EPISODE #29 - How Omega-3s Really Affect Athletic PerformanceRecording date: October 6, 2023Broadcast date: November 15, 2023Hosts: Drs. Bill Harris: & Kristina Harris Jackson Guest: Dr. Gregory Peoples, Medical Sciences Researcher, University of Wollongong, AustraliaBackground and key takeaways: Dr. Gregory Peoples is a senior lecturer and researcher in medical sciences at the University of Wollongong in Wollongong, Australia. He is prolific in the field of omega-3s and heart, lung and skeletal muscle physiology. In this episode of OmegaMatters, the conversation focuses on some just a few of his 145 peer-reviewed papers on the topic of if and how omega-3s affect physiology in highly trained individuals. To watch this episode, visit our YouTube channel.To read the full transcript from this OmegaMatters episode, visit https://omegaquant.com/omegamatters-broadcasts/.To learn more about omega-3 testing, visit: https://omegaquant.com/omega-3-index-complete/

EPISODE #28 - How Omega-3s Affect Learning & Behavior Recording date: August 31, 2023Broadcast date: September 25, 2023Hosts: Drs. Bill Harris: & Kristina Harris JacksonGuest: Dr. Alex Richardson, Founder & Director of the Food and Behavior Research Lab Background and key takeaways: For 30 years, Dr. Alex Richardson has been based at Oxford University and the Department of Physiology, Anatomy and Genetics. And for the last 20 years, she's been the founding Director of the UK-based charity Food and Behavior Research, known as Fab or Fab Research Lab. She is in the top 3% of academic researchers worldwide based on the impact of her over 90 publications. With her more prominent work coming from her studies of how omega-3 fatty acids affect behavior, learning and mood, particularly in children. To watch this episode, visit our YouTube channel.To read the full transcript from this OmegaMatters episode, visit https://omegaquant.com/omegamatters-broadcasts/.To learn more about omega-3 testing, visit: https://omegaquant.com/omega-3-index-complete/

EPISODE #27 - Omega-3 for Athletes & Military PersonnelRecording date: July 14, 2023Broadcast date: July 26, 2023 Hosts: Drs. Bill Harris & Kristina Harris JacksonGuest: Jeff Heileson, PhD, RD, CSSD Background and key takeaways: Jeff Heileson, RD, CSSD, got his Doctorate in Nutritional Sciences at Baylor University, and is Registered Dietitian and a Certified Strength and Conditioning Specialist. Now, he's a Deputy Director in the Nutrition Services Division at the Walter Reed National Military Medical Center. We first found out about Jeff and his mentor, LesLee Funderburk, from Baylor, when they contacted us about analyzing samples for their studies. And then we found out the area he was working in was really interesting and really important, and that's omega-3s and athletics and more specifically, in concussion areas and strength building. To watch this episode, visit our YouTube channel.To read the full transcript from this OmegaMatters episode, visit https://omegaquant.com/omegamatters-broadcasts/.To learn more about omega-3 testing, visit: https://omegaquant.com/omega-3-index-complete/

EPISODE #26 - What is FARI?Recording date: June 15, 2023 Broadcast date: June 29, 2023Hosts: Drs. Bill Harris & Kristina Harris Jackson Background and key takeaways: In this episode, Drs. Harris and Jackson talk about the formation of the Fatty Acid Research Institute (FARI). FARI is a non-profit foundation that brings together nutrition scientists and biostatistical experts with strong publication records and expertise in fatty acids to accelerate discovery of the relationships between fatty acids, especially omega-3, and health. To watch this episode, visit our YouTube channel.To read the full transcript from this OmegaMatters episode, visit https://omegaquant.com/omegamatters-broadcasts/.To learn more about omega-3 testing, visit: https://omegaquant.com/omega-3-index-complete/

EPISODE #25 - Omega-3 DHA & and the Infant BrainRecording date: March 17, 2023Broadcast date: May 2, 2023 Hosts: Drs. Bill Harris & Kristina Harris JacksonGuests: Drs. Kathleen Gustafson & Danielle ChristifanoBackground and key takeaways: In this episode, Drs. Harris and Jackson speak with Drs. Kathleen Gustafson and Danielle Christifano, from the University of Kansas Medical Center. Drs. Harris and Jackson came to know them through the work with Susan Carlson's lab, whom they’ve interviewed before about studying DHA in pregnancy. Kathleen was the director of the Neurophysiology core at the Hoglund Brain Imaging Center at the University of Kansas Medical Center until she recently retired. And she has expertise in neurophysiologic measurements, vision, retina, signal processing, and has collaborated on several nutrition studies. She also holds two patents related to human retinal dystrophin, and two patents related to the nutritional needs of premature infants. Dr. Christifano, or Danielle is an assistant professor in the Department of Nutrition and Dietetics, where she studies the influence of nutrition on neurophysiological outcomes in mothers and children using techniques available at the Hoglund Imaging Center. And she also has a keen interest in improving the accessibility of prenatal nutrition recommendations, including Omega-3 in clinical settings. In this episode, they talk about the importance of DHA, especially for pregnant women who don’t get enough in their diets and how that can impact infant neurodevelopment and preterm birth risk. To watch this episode, visit our YouTube channel.To read the full transcript from this OmegaMatters episode, visit https://omegaquant.com/omegamatters-broadcasts/.To learn more about omega-3 testing, visit: https://omegaquant.com/omega-3-index-complete/

EPISODE #24 - Research Alert! Omega-3 Index & COVIDRecording date: March 3, 2023Broadcast date: March 9, 2023  Hosts: Drs. Bill Harris and Kristina Harris JacksonBackground and key takeaways: In this episode, Drs. Harris and Jackson talk about a recently published study on the Omega-3 Index and COVID. Published in the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition on March 1st, the study showed those with a higher Omega-3 Index are more protected from severe COVID. To watch this episode, visit our YouTube channel.To read the full transcript from this OmegaMatters episode, visit https://omegaquant.com/omegamatters-broadcasts/.To learn more about omega-3 testing, visit: https://omegaquant.com/omega-3-index-complete/

EPISODE #23 - Dr. Martha Belury: Demystifying the Omega-6 ControversyRecording date: November 23, 2022Broadcast date: February 16, 2023 Hosts: Drs. Bill Harris & Kristina Harris JacksonGuest: Dr. Martha BeluryBackground and key takeaways: In this episode, Drs. Harris and Jackson interview Dr. Martha Belury. Dr. Belury is the Carol S. Kennedy professor in the Department of Human Sciences of the Ohio State University. She received her PhD in biological sciences from the University of Texas, Austin, and her current focus is on the mechanisms by which bioactive lipids regulate insulin sensitivity and liver adipose tissue and muscle. She's also interested in the role of energy balance and cancer prevention. And one of the bioactive lipids that she studied extensively is linoleic acid, an essential omega-6 fatty acid that today finds itself in the crosshairs of controversy. To watch this episode, visit our YouTube channel.To read the full transcript from this OmegaMatters episode, visit https://omegaquant.com/omegamatters-broadcasts/.To learn more about omega-3 testing, visit: https://omegaquant.com/omega-3-index-complete/

EPISODE #22 - Measuring Omega-3 Status in Pregnant Women – Australia’s Pilot ProgramRecording date: December 14, 2022Broadcast date: January 19, 2023 Hosts: Drs. Bill Harris & Kristina Harris JacksonGuest: Dr. Robert GibsonBackground and key takeaways: In this episode, Drs. Harris and Jackson speak with Dr. Robert Gibson, a senior research fellow and professor of food science and nutrition at the University of Adelaide in South Australia, among many other titles. At his core, he is a biochemist and a nutritionist who has published 260 peer reviewed papers in high impact journals like the New England Journal of Medicine. He has conducted many large scale trials in nutrition, particularly during the perinatal period, and he is currently spearheading a pilot project to measure omega-3 status in pregnant women as the standard of care in Australia. To watch this episode, visit our YouTube channel.To read the full transcript from this OmegaMatters episode, visit https://omegaquant.com/omegamatters-broadcasts/.To learn more about omega-3 testing, visit: https://omegaquant.com/omega-3-index-complete/

EPISODE #21 - EPA and DHA MetabolismRecording date: October 24, 2022Broadcast date: December 15, 2022                                                            Hosts: Drs. Bill Harris & Kristina Harris JacksonGuest: Dr. Richard BazinetBackground and key takeaways: In this episode, Drs. Harris and Jackson speak with Dr. Richard Bazinet about the nitty-gritty details of EPA and DHA metabolism. Dr. Bazinet received his Ph.D. from the University of Toronto in 2003 and followed that up with a post-doctoral fellowship at the NIH National Institute on Aging with Dr. Rapoport. He then he returned back to the University of Toronto in 2006, where he is currently a professor and the Canada research chair in brain lipid metabolism. He's also a past president of ISSFAL, the International Society for the Study of Fatty Acids and Lipids, and his overall research focus is to identify the mechanisms that regulate brain lipid metabolism and how those mechanisms may give us clues about pathophysiology of neurodegenerative and neuropsychiatric disorders. To watch this episode, visit our YouTube channel.To read the full transcript from this OmegaMatters episode, visit https://omegaquant.com/omegamatters-broadcasts/.To learn more about omega-3 testing, visit: https://omegaquant.com/omega-3-index-complete/

EPISODE #20 - It is Dangerous for Women to Avoid Fish During PregnancyRecording date: October 21, 2022Broadcast date: November 17, 2022                                                       Hosts: Drs. Bill Harris & Kristina Harris Jackson Guest: Dr. Tom BrennaBackground and key takeaways: In this episode, Drs. Harris and Jackson speak with Dr. Tom Brenna about seafood and pregnancy. Dr. Brenna is a professor of pediatrics at the Dell Medical School at the University of Texas at Austin. He received his PhD from Cornell University in Analytical Chemistry and spent 28 years as a professor of human nutrition at Cornell in Ithaca, New York. He's received several awards from the American Society for Nutrition and served on a number of advisory panels on human nutrition, including being a member of the 2015 Dietary Guidelines Advisory Committee, which is the group that is tasked with updating the US Dietary Guidelines. His work has been in the area of requirements for polyunsaturated fatty acids in the perinatal period and the development of advanced analytical chemical instrumentation and high precision isotope ratio mass spectrometry for anti-doping applications. To watch this episode, visit our YouTube channel.To read the full transcript from this OmegaMatters episode, visit https://omegaquant.com/omegamatters-broadcasts/.To learn more about omega-3 testing, visit: https://omegaquant.com/omega-3-index-complete/

EPISODE #19 - UK Biobank Studies: Fish Oil UseRecording date: September 27, 2022Broadcast date: October 20, 2022                                                           Hosts: Drs. Bill Harris & Kristina Harris JacksonBackground and key takeaways: The UK Biobank is a large-scale biomedical database and research resource that is enabling new scientific discoveries to be made that improve public health. The resource provides accredited researchers access to medical and genetic data from half a million volunteer participants to improve our understanding of the prevention, diagnosis and treatment of a wide range of serious and life-threatening illnesses. Through the long-term commitment of 500,000 participants, together with the support of its funders, the UK Biobank is enabling new scientific discoveries that benefit people's health. The UK Biobank has been used in several recent studies examining the relationship between fish oil use and several health outcomes. In this episode, Drs. Harris and Jackson discuss 8 of these studies. To watch this episode, visit our YouTube channel.To read the full transcript from this OmegaMatters episode, visit https://omegaquant.com/omegamatters-broadcasts/.To learn more about omega-3 testing, visit: https://omegaquant.com/omega-3-index-complete/

EPISODE #18 - What is GOED? Recording date: August 3, 2022Broadcast date: September 15, 2022                                                      Host: Drs. Bill Harris & Kristina Harris JacksonGuest: Ellen SchuttBackground and key takeaways: Ellen Schutt is the Executive Director of GOED, which is the global organization for EPA and DHA omega-3s. She's been there for 10 years and oversees all aspects of the organization's mission, which is to increase consumption of EPA/DHA in the general public and ensure that all GOED members are providing EPA/DHA products that are high quality, so consumers can trust them. Ellen has more than 20 years of experience in the natural products industry, so she has a wide range of interests and expertise beyond omega-3s. In this episode, Drs. Harris and Jackson talk about what it takes to meet the high standards of being a GOED member, as well as a new clinical studies database, in which they’ve compiled all human studies on EPA and DHA and cataloged them and created a searchable database. To watch this episode, visit our YouTube channel.To read the full transcript from this OmegaMatters episode, visit https://omegaquant.com/omegamatters-broadcasts/.To learn more about omega-3 testing, visit: https://omegaquant.com/omega-3-index-complete/

EPISODE #17 - Seafood Nutrition Partnership Recording date: August 2, 2022Broadcast date: August 17, 2022 Host: Drs. Bill Harris & Kristina Harris JacksonGuest: Linda CornishBackground and key takeaways: Linda Cornish is the president of the Seafood Nutrition Partnership (SNP). She received her MBA from the University of California, Los Angeles, and has had many management and leadership positions throughout career, but she's also always retained a passion for public health. Seafood Nutrition Partnership is a non-profit organization that inspires a healthier America through a balanced diet that includes seafood. And she's launched public health awareness campaigns during Seafood Nutrition Month, which is in October. At the start of the pandemic in 2020, SNP launched the Eat Seafood America campaign so Americans could be healthier and have a stronger immune system through seafood nutrition. In this episode, she talks about how SNP works to create more public awareness for all things seafood and the studies the organization has commissioned to get relevant health authorities to recognize the importance of seafood in overall health.To watch this episode, visit our YouTube channel.To read the full transcript from this OmegaMatters episode, visit https://omegaquant.com/omegamatters-broadcasts/.To learn more about omega-3 testing, visit: https://omegaquant.com/omega-3-index-complete/

EPISODE #16 - NEW RESEARCH ALERT: DHA and Alzheimer’s Recording date: June 20, 2022 Broadcast date: July 7, 2022                                                                     Host: Drs. Bill Harris & Kristina Harris JacksonGuest: Dr. Aleix Sala-VilaBackground and Key Takeaways: Dr. Sala-Vila received his PhD in biomedicine from the University of Barcelona in 2004, and his research has involved the role of bioactive compounds in reducing the incidence of chronic disease, with a particular focus on Omega-3s. He's completed four post-doctoral fellowships, including one with Dr. Phil Calder, has published 45 papers on fatty acids, and he's one of the primary scientists at the Fatty Acid Research Institute. To watch this episode, visit our YouTube channel.To read the full transcript from this OmegaMatters episode, visit https://omegaquant.com/omegamatters-broadcasts/.To learn more about omega-3 testing, visit: https://omegaquant.com/omega-3-index-complete/

EPISODE #14 - Translating Nutrition Science into PracticeRecording date: April 12, 2022Broadcast date: May 5, 2022                                                                   Hosts: Drs. Bill Harris & Kristina Harris JacksonGuest: Dr. Dariush MozaffarianBackground and Key Takeaways: Dr. Mozaffarian received his MD at Columbia University in New York City. And he did his Internal Medicine residency at Stanford and a Fellowship in Cardiovascular Medicine at the University of Washington. It was there that he became interested in public health, receiving an MPH and later a doctorate in Public Health from Harvard. In 2006 he joined the faculty at the Harvard Medical School and the School of Public Health. Eight years later moved across town to Tufts University where he's currently the Dean of the Freedman School of Nutrition Science and Policy. He’s also a Jean Mayer Professor of Nutrition and a Professor of Medicine at Tufts. Almost 20 years ago he published his first paper on omega-3 fatty acids and heart disease. In this episode, Dr. Mozaffarian discusses how he stumbled across omega-3s, the epidemic of poor nutrition, and the potential creation of a National Institute of Nutrition at the NIH.To watch this episode, visit our YouTube channel.To read the full transcript from this OmegaMatters episode, visit https://omegaquant.com/omegamatters-broadcasts/.To learn more about omega-3 testing, visit: https://omegaquant.com/omega-3-index-complete/

EPISODE #13 - Dr. Jing Kang – How the Fat-1 Mouse Creates Omega-3 from Omega-6Recording date: February 25, 2022Broadcast date: March 23, 2022                                                             Hosts: Drs. Bill Harris & Kristina Harris Jackson Guest: Dr. Jing Kang, Associate Professor in the Department of Medicine at Harvard & Director of the Laboratory for Lipid Medicine and Technology at Mass General HospitalBackground and Key Takeaways: Dr. Jing Kang is an associate professor in the Department of Medicine at Harvard University and he's also the director of the Laboratory for Lipid Medicine and Technology at Mass General Hospital. He received his MD degree in China and then got his PhD at the University of Alberta. He then went on to do post-doctoral work with Alex Leaf at Harvard University where he remains to this day. Several years ago, Dr. Kang created Fat-1 transgenic mice, which are capable of producing omega-3 fatty acids from omega-6 fatty acids, leading to abundant omega-3 fatty acids with reduced levels of omega-6 fatty acids in their organs and tissues, and without the need of getting omega-3 from the diet. In this episode, Dr. Kang talks about the implications of using Fat-1 technology in both research studies and to increase the fatty acid content of the food supply naturally.To watch this episode, visit our YouTube channel.To read the full transcript from this OmegaMatters episode, visit https://omegaquant.com/omegamatters-broadcasts/.To learn more about omega-3 testing, visit: https://omegaquant.com/omega-3-index-complete/

EPISODE #12b - Dr. Norman Salem – Part 2: How the Brain Gets DHA Recording date: December 20, 2021Broadcast date: January 20, 2022                                                            Hosts: Drs. Bill Harris & Kristina Harris Jackson Guest: Dr. Norman SalemBackground and Key Takeaways: Dr. Norman Salem is a prolific omega-3 researcher whose career has focused primarily on omega-3 DHA and the brain. Dr. Salem obtained his PhD from the University of Rochester School of Medicine and Neurobiology. For 30 years, Dr. Salem worked at the National Institutes of Health (NIH) where he led the Laboratory of Membrane Biochemistry and Biophysics. And after retiring from NIH, he worked at Martek, the first algal DHA company, and then for DSM when they acquired Martek. In this episode, Dr. Salem gets very deep on DHA’s mechanism of action and specifically how it influences the brain and nerves. He also talks about how crucial DHA is for pregnant women and why it should be considered an essential nutrient, much like a vitamin. Last but not least, he ponders why a dietary reference intake has yet to be established for DHA and that the time has come to get this underway.  To watch this episode, visit our YouTube channel.To read the full transcript from this OmegaMatters episode, visit https://omegaquant.com/omegamatters-broadcasts/.To learn more about omega-3 testing, visit: https://omegaquant.com/omega-3-index-complete/

EPISODE #12a - Dr. Norm Salem – Part 1: How the Brain Gets DHARecording date: December 20, 2021Broadcast date: January 12, 2022                                                            Hosts: Drs. Bill Harris & Kristina Harris JacksonGuest: Dr. Norman SalemBackground and Key Takeaways: Dr. Norman Salem is a prolific omega-3 researcher whose career has focused primarily on omega-3 DHA and the brain. Dr. Salem obtained his PhD from the University of Rochester School of Medicine and Neurobiology. For 30 years, Dr. Salem worked at the National Institutes of Health (NIH) where he led the Laboratory of Membrane Biochemistry and Biophysics. And after retiring from NIH, he worked at Martek, the first algal DHA company, and then for DSM when they acquired Martek. In this episode, he explain how inefficient the body is at converting ALA into DHA. And how, when the situation calls for it, the brain steals any DHA it can from other organs in the body. The only way to feed the body what it needs is to get DHA preformed — such as that found in fish or omega-3 supplements. To watch this episode, visit our YouTube channel.To read the full transcript from this OmegaMatters episode, visit https://omegaquant.com/omegamatters-broadcasts/.To learn more about omega-3 testing, visit: https://omegaquant.com/omega-3-index-complete/

EPISODE #11 - Dr. Michael Crawford: DHA and the BrainRecording date: November 22, 2021Broadcast date: December 17, 2021                                                       Hosts: Drs. Bill Harris & Kristina Harris JacksonGuest: Dr. Michael CrawfordBackground and Key Takeaways: Dr. Michael Crawford has several decades of experience researching omega-3s, especially docosahexaenoic acid (DHA). In this episode, Dr. Crawford talks about how long DHA has been roaming the earth, why the placenta prefers DHA more than any other omega-3, how the brain recycles DHA, and how Dr. Crawford fortuitously met another great legend, Dr. Bang, in the 1960s, just prior to putting omega-3s on the map.To watch this episode, visit our YouTube channel.To read the full transcript from this OmegaMatters episode, visit https://omegaquant.com/omegamatters-broadcasts/.To learn more about omega-3 testing, visit: https://omegaquant.com/omega-3-index-complete/

EPISODE #10 - Ask Dr. SearsRecording date: October 28, 2021Broadcast date: November 4, 2021                                                         Hosts: Drs. Bill Harris & Kristina Harris Jackson Guest: Dr. Bill SearsBackground and Key Takeaways:  William Sears, M.D., has been advising busy parents on how to raise healthier families for over 40 years, and now focuses much of his attention to the specialty of lifestyle medicine. He has served as a voluntary professor at the University of Toronto, University of South Carolina, University of Southern California School of Medicine, and University of California: Irvine.  A father of 8 children, he and his wife Martha have written more than 45 books on parenting, nutrition, and healthy aging.  He serves as a consultant for TV, magazines, radio and other media, and is the co-founder of AskDrSears.com and the Dr. Sears Wellness Institute, which has certified over 11,000 Health Coaches around the world. Dr. Sears and his contribution to family health were featured on the cover of TIME Magazine in May 2012. He is noted for his science-made-simple-and-fun approach to family health.To watch this episode, visit our YouTube channel.To read the full transcript from this OmegaMatters episode, visit https://omegaquant.com/omegamatters-broadcasts/.To learn more about omega-3 testing, visit: https://omegaquant.com/omega-3-index-complete/ 

EPISODE #9 - Fish Oil Quality Recording date: May 25, 2021 Broadcast date: October 1, 2021                                                              Hosts: Drs. Bill Harris & Kristina Harris Jackson Guest: Gonzalo Caceres, Commercial Director at TASABackground and Key Takeaways: Gonzalo Caceres is the Commercial Director for TASA, a Peruvian fishing company that provides ingredients and seafood of high quality and added value in harmony with the community and the environment. TASA was founded in 2002 and is the largest producer and exporter of fishmeal and fish oil in the world. In addition, it is one of the leading suppliers of refined and concentrated omega-3 fish oil.In this episode, Drs. Harris and Jackson have a deep conversation about how fish oil is made and how it is used to support both human health and aquaculture. Mr. Caceres walks them both through the complex process of making fish oil and how ordinary fish oil becomes a concentrate. Did you know around 30% of the fish oil that goes into supplements comes from the Peruvian anchovy fishery? Learn about this and more in this fascinating conversation.  To watch this episode, visit our YouTube channel.To read the full transcript from this OmegaMatters episode, visit https://omegaquant.com/omegamatters-broadcasts/.To learn more about omega-3 testing, visit: https://omegaquant.com/omega-3-index-complete/

EPISODE #8 - Part 2: Interviewing an Omega-3 Legend – Dr. Jørn Dyerberg Recording date: Jul 22, 2021Broadcast date: Aug 16, 2021                                                                  Hosts: Drs. Bill Harris & Kristina Harris Jackson Guest: Dr. Jørn DyerbergBackground and Key Takeaways: Dr. Jørn Dyerberg is a pioneer in the omega-3 fatty acid world, having made the discovery of their important heart health benefits more than four decades ago while researching the native Greenland Inuit. Along with his colleague, Dr. Hans Olaf Bang, the two embarked on an adventure that started in the late 1960s and trickled well into the 1970s. It started with their curiosity about the Inuit’s high fat diet and their very low incidence of heart disease. Their goal was to examine their blood and their diet. At the time, the Inuit subsisted mainly on a diet of high-fat seal and fish, however, the rates of heart disease were staggeringly low compared to Americans eating a much different diet but had much high rates of heart disease. Their first publication appeared in the Lancet in 1971. What this research showed is that the Inuit actually had favorable lipid levels despite their high-fat diet. It was in a subsequent publication in 1975 in the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition that they detailed the specific omega-3s eicosapentaenoic acid (EPA) and docosahexaenoic (DHA, which led to several landmark publications during the following decades and a stream of interest in these newly discovered molecules. In part 2 of this series, Dr. Dyerberg discusses the rollercoaster of omega-3 research of the past 40 years with Dr. Bill Harris. They discuss each landmark study that had a heavy impact, either positive or negative. It’s been a wild ride. To watch this episode, visit our YouTube channel.To read the full transcript from this OmegaMatters episode, visit https://omegaquant.com/omegamatters-broadcasts/.To learn more about omega-3 testing, visit: https://omegaquant.com/omega-3-index-complete/

EPISODE #8 -Part 1: Interviewing an Omega-3 Legend – Dr. Jörn DyerbergRecording date: Jul 20, 2021Broadcast date: Aug 4, 2021                                                                    Hosts: Drs. Bill Harris & Kristina Harris JacksonGuest: Dr. Jörn DyerbergBackground and Key Takeaways: Dr. Jörn Dyerberg is a pioneer in the omega-3 fatty acid world, having made the discovery of their important heart health benefits more than four decades ago while researching the native Greenland Inuit. Along with his colleague, Dr. Hans Olaf Bang, the two embarked on an adventure that started in the late 1960s and trickled well into the 1970s. It started with their curiosity about the Inuit’s high fat diet and their very low incidence of heart disease. Their goal was to examine their blood and their diet. At the time, the Inuit subsisted mainly on a diet of high-fat seal and fish, however, the rates of heart disease were staggeringly low compared to Americans eating a much different diet but had much high rates of heart disease. Their first publication appeared in the Lancet in 1971. What this research showed is that the Inuit actually had favorable lipid levels despite their high-fat diet. It was in a subsequent publication in 1975 in the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition that they detailed the specific omega-3s eicosapentaenoic acid (EPA) and docosahexaenoic (DHA). This led to several landmark publications during the following decades and a stream of interest in these newly discovered molecules. In part 1 of this two-part series, Dr. Dyerberg chronicles the rise of omega-3s EPA and DHA, including their discovery, early research findings, and how they were catapulted into the spotlight as a result of his research on the Greenland Inuit. To watch this episode, visit our YouTube channel.To read the full transcript from this OmegaMatters episode, visit https://omegaquant.com/omegamatters-broadcasts/.To learn more about omega-3 testing, visit: https://omegaquant.com/omega-3-index-complete/

EPISODE #6 - How Much Omega-3 DHA Do Pregnant Women Need?Recording date: May 30, 2021Broadcast date: June 30, 2021                                                                 Hosts: Drs. Bill Harris & Kristina Harris JacksonGuest: Dr. Susan CarlsonBackground and Key Takeaways: In Episode #7 of OmegaMatters, Dr. Bill Harris and his daughter, Dr. Kristina Harris Jackson, are joined by Dr. Susan Carlson. Dr. Carlson is a giant in the field of omega-3 fatty acids, particularly as they affect the early stages of life, from pregnancy through birth. In the latest study she published in EClinicalMedicine, a Lancet Journal, she asked the question of whether or not the 200 mg DHA dose that is typically given to women who are pregnant is enough or if 1000 mg is superior and has better health outcomes for mom and baby in relation specifically to early preterm -- birth before 34 weeks -- and preterm birth -- birth before 37 weeks. Those who had low DHA status seemed to benefit the most. And 1000 mg of DHA was definitely superior to 200 mg in preventing early preterm birth. To watch this episode, visit our YouTube channel.To read the full transcript from this OmegaMatters episode, visit https://omegaquant.com/omegamatters-broadcasts/.To learn more about omega-3 testing, visit: https://omegaquant.com/omega-3-index-complete/

EPISODE #6 - Why Omega-3 Study Design MattersRecording date: March 30, 2021Broadcast date: June 10th, 2021                                                             Hosts: Drs. Bill Harris & Kristina Harris JacksonGuest: Nathan Tintle, PhDBackground and key takeaways:The way studies are designed, especially when it comes to omega-3 fatty acids, is very important when it comes to pinpointing their value in human health. However, because they are nutrients and not drugs, they don’t always hold up when it comes to the gold standard (i.e., randomized controlled trial, or RCT) way of studying substances and measuring them against health outcomes. Sometimes different kinds of studies can yield better learnings about nutrients, such as prospective studies (looking in the future) and retrospective studies (looking back in time), and then there is always the observational study that has a power all its own. In this episode, Drs. Bill Harris and Kristina Harris Jackson go deep into the world of research to understand the nuances of clinical studies with the help of biostatistical expert, Dr. Nathan Tintle. He says the two most important questions you need to ask when reading a study are: 1) Who are the people in the study and can I generalize the findings from them? And 2) Can I make a cause and effect conclusion from this study? One of the advantages of these other studies (i.e., prospective, observational, etc.) vs. an RCT in nutrition, and particularly in the omega-3 space, is that there are better conclusions to draw about prevention. In other words, the majority of omega-3 studies seem to point to benefits for those who have maintained a lifetime of high omega-3 levels. Guest bio: Dr. Tintle holds a PhD in statistics from Stony Brook University. He has internationally recognized expertise in fatty acids, public health, genetics, and biomedical statistics via study design, survey instrument development, and standard and computationally intensive data analysis techniques. He has >100 peer-reviewed publications. Dr. Tintle also brings prior relevant experience as an executive director of a non-profit, research institute. As a researcher and research institute director he has led initiatives securing over $8 million of funding across 30+ major federally funded grant awards, in addition to securing substantial private and public charitable donations.To watch this episode, visit our YouTube channel.For more information about OmegaMatters, visit https://omegaquant.com/omegamatters-broadcasts/.To learn more about omega-3 testing, visit: https://omegaquant.com/omega-3-index-complete/

EPISODE #5 - The Omega-3 Index in Clinical PracticeRecording date: March 30, 2021Broadcast date: May 13, 2021                                                                 Hosts: Drs. Bill Harris & Kristina Harris JacksonGuest: James O’Keefe, MDBackground and key takeaways:The Omega-3 Index test is a tool that has been used by a variety of healthcare providers in their clinical practice. In this episode, Drs. Harris and Jackson talk about the utility of the test with Dr. James O’Keefe, a preventive cardiologist based in Kansas City. He has been a proponent of omega-3s in his cardiology practice for more than two decades. His personal journey through the omega-3 world during the publication of some of the landmark studies in the 1980s and 90s fundamentally changed the way he viewed fat. Once omega-3s had been validated in several large trials, he launched a concentrated product of his own as a way to offer high quality omega-3s to his patients. Dr. O’Keefe is also well versed on omega-3 research, having been an investigator himself. Today, Dr. O’Keefe guides his patients on a path toward heart wellness, using the Omega-3 Index to help them track and monitor the impact of omega-3s in their diets. To Dr. O’Keefe, the first step in changing anything is measuring it. Guest bio: James H O'Keefe, MD, is Director of the Duboc Cardio Health & Wellness Center and Director of Preventive Cardiology at Saint Luke’s of Kansas City, Mid America Heart Institute. He is Co-director of the Haverty Cardiometabolic Center and Professor of Medicine at the University of Missouri-Kansas City. His postgraduate training at the Mayo Clinic in Rochester, Minnesota included a cardiology fellowship and internal medicine residency. Dr O’Keefe is board-certified in Cardiology, Internal Medicine, Nuclear Cardiology, and Cardiac CT Imaging. Dr O’Keefe has contributed 430 articles to peer-reviewed journals, and his articles have been cited over 40,000 times in the medical literature. He has authored best-selling cardiovascular (CV) books for health professionals, notably The Complete Guide to ECGs, which is used by CV fellowship training programs as the preferred teaching text for the ECG section of the ABIM Cardiology Board Certification Exam. USA Today has listed Dr O’Keefe among America’s Most Influential Doctors. Dr O’Keefe is a member of Phi Beta Kappa and Alpha Omega Honor Societies. To watch this episode, visit our YouTube channel.For more information about OmegaMatters, visit https://omegaquant.com/omegamatters-broadcasts/.To learn more about omega-3 testing, visit: https://omegaquant.com/omega-3-index-complete/